Police Force Volunteers Get Donation Of Telephones

CELEBRATIONS - GOOD CAUSES

May 24, 1998|MARC MATHIEU

The Pembroke Pines Police Department and the volunteer members of the department's Community on Patrol program will have an easier time communicating with each other thanks to 25 cellular phones donated by Bell South Mobility.

Community on Patrol members use the phones to go out into the community and report suspicious activities to the police, Sgt. Michael Arnett said.

''Basically, they are our extra eyes and ears,'' Arnett said.

''We can't be everywhere, but with Community on Patrol, we can cover more ground,'' Arnett said.

Community on Patrol members receive 12 hours of training in observation skills, in which they learn police terminology and how to describe details about vehicles and individuals.

The organization's members patrol the city in their own cars, which they are instructed not to leave in order to stay clear of possible danger.

Community on Patrol members have contributed more than 2,500 hours to the program since it started two years ago, Arnett said.

Community on Patrol was created to give Pembroke Pines residents a more efficient conduit to the police, he said.

Its 34 members are graduates of the Citizens Police Academy, which offers residents an overview of police operations during a 12-class program.

The Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association began searching for additional cellular phones for the volunteer patrol last year. They sent an application to the Community Policing Consortium in Washigton, D.C. The Citizens Police Academy had four cellular phones and expected to receive 10 more.

''We were glad the citizens academy got more phones then they expected,'' Arnett said.

In addition to cellular phones, the patrol also communicates with police radios.

Arnett said there is no absolute way to judge the group's impact.

He added that no major crimes have occurred in areas where the residents patrol.

``We've had a lot of suspicious activities reports from the citizens patrol, and we believe these early warnings have prevented crimes from happening,'' he said.